Just been doing a little check on the Nissan 2016 quashqai +2 car of my sons. I think this goes fo every car not just his. Looking up how tight the wheel nuts should be tighten to, I found a few discrepancies on different web sites so my advice is always refer to the service book thatcame with the car.
He took it in for wheel alignment today and the settings were well out, so heavens knows what the previous owner had been doing. He also went into Halfords to get the right size socket, they are HEX nuts on the wheels and I only have metric and imperial at home. While he was there he did ask about the tightness of the nuts and bloody hell. Who ever did them up never check the torque and over tightened them so much even the Halford guy had a job to undo them with an air compressor gun…
I always ask the mechanic if having new tyres fitted to double check the gun torque first, some are just cowboys who don’t have a clue
He don’t listen, the number of times I have said get a spacesaver spare tyre at least- check your tyre pressure (we bought him a 12v pump- may or may not have a jack- didn’t had a wheel nut socket or lever for etc, just relying on a squirty thing to get him out of trouble.
What worries me if something would happen with the grandchilren in the car !!!
I insisted my wife had one for her Honda Civic estate and thank goodness I did. A short time later the car went down a water covered pothole in the road and ruined the tyre. She called out a rescue organisation and the first thing the man said when he got to her “do you have a spare wheel”. Yes she said my husband insisted and he got me a space saver . So the tyre was replaced there and then enableing her to get a new tyre straght away instead of having a tow. I now make sure both cars have a tyre pump in them as well.
My thinking is what if you see someone broken down and their spare tyre is flat, at least I can help
Err?? realspeed you mention ‘HEX’ nuts then metric & Imperial.
“Hex” nuts normally AFAIK just means hexagonal ie normal 6 sided nuts which can be either Metric or Imperial.
Being a Nissan it will almost certainly be a Metric thread.
Re tightness - by far the worst offenders re over-tightening that I’ve encountered over many years are so called “rattle” guns ( compressor with hammer or rattle device. )
Personally never worry about this torque thing, it is totally unnecessary to know.
Whenever my car returns from a service or a tyre change I get my wheel brace and try loosening a nut on each wheel to see if I can undo it. If I can’t I get the appropriate socket on the end of my metre long bar, loosen each nut and then re-tighten with the wheel brace as tight as I can.
No need to even jack the car up if you do it one nut at a time…
Never striped a thread or had a wheel loosen using this method. It is no point tightening a nut to a certain torque if you can’t get the damn thing off if/when you get a puncture.
My car has a proper spare wheel, I am not driving 200km to the nearest town on a space saver wheel.
Cowboys seem to outnumber genuine trades people around my neck of the woods, so it’s not uncommon to see horse hitching rails outside some establishments
I hate those space saver spares and always have a car with a proper spare wheel. Garages are few and far between up here and it can be many miles more than those wee things can do (50 mls?) before you can get the flat repaired.
Actually do they even make them for big 4x4s?
That’s all well and good providing the car’s manufacturer has provided sufficient space for a full size wheel and tyre. Most cars these days only have room for a space-saver.
I cant speak about all 4x 4’s, but I do know the Suzuki has a space saving spare to order. Space savers are made up to 19" so I expect most makes could order one.
My last car was a Suzuki 4X4, and the one before that was a Freelander. Both had the spares on the back. I have a Yeti now and the full size spare is in the tailgate in a built space for it.
Yes, I was wondering about that… I’ve never heard of a thread called a ‘HEX’ before…
I’ve got a Nissan Qashqai and the wheel nuts are 20mm AF. Any 20mm socket will do if it’s up to the job.
I’ve been messing with cars for over 50 years and I’ve never torqued up the wheel nuts in my life. I’ve changed more wheels (for one thing or another) than most people have had hot dinners and never had a problem. I think with the invention of air tools and other nut removing devices it was necessary to set a torque otherwise there was the possibility of over tightening. With manual tightening, I just tighten the thing as tight as is humanly possible. This human anyway! And the nuts won’t be as tight now as they were when I was in my younger days…Fortunately, the wheels have remained secure…
over tightening could strip the thread and too loose and the nut may come off. Then there is the question of "is each nut tightened up equally? " uneven tightening could eventually also cause issues.
Sorry Bruce but I would rather do it the proper way with a torque wrench set at the correct pressure’
I have never heard of a HEX nut being used to hold a wheel, but on his 2016 Nissan Quashqai+2 Diesel that is what they used
I can guarantee that you will not strip a wheel nut by hand realspeed. If you can, then the thread was faulty already. Tightening a wheel nut using a wrench, and as tight as you can would produce a very even pressure on all nuts. You are your own torque wrench…And unless you are a wimp, or use a short fiddly spanner/wrench, the tightness of the nuts will be more than sufficient.
I’ve never heard of a thread called a ‘HEX’ before…
